Broadcast signal receiver, method for providing broadcast signal relation information, and server

ABSTRACT

A broadcast signal receiver capable of displaying relation information corresponding to a broadcast signal in real time.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/533,597 filed on Jun. 26, 2012, which claims priority from KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2011-0079555, filed on Aug. 10, 2011 in theKorean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

BACKGROUND

1. Field

Apparatuses and methods consistent with the exemplary embodiments relateto a broadcast signal receiver, a method for providing broadcast signalrelation information, and a server.

2. Description of the Related Art

Media contents are information that can be provided based on a mediasuch as terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, cablebroadcasting, Internet broadcasting, digital multimedia broadcasting, aBlu-ray disc (BD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), or a like storagemedium. The media contents may be represented in the format of audioand/or video (or image) and/or a text, and given as broadcast contentsor multimedia contents.

Because the broadcast contents have been the most widely spread mediacontents, it is important to provide a user with relation informationcorresponding to the broadcast contents, such as contents guideinformation, location information, goods information, actor/actressinformation, artist information, banner advertisement information,advertiser information, media contents purchase information, eventinformation, etc., in real time.

However, devices capable of reproducing broadcast contents may not havea function of providing the relation information. In this case, a usermay use a device capable of accessing the Internet to obtain therelation information through Internet searching based on informationabout the broadcast contents known to a user.

It is difficult for a user to obtain the relation information,synchronized with the broadcast contents being currently reproduced, inreal time. Further, information related to the media contents is limitedsince the Internet searching is based on the information known to theuser.

SUMMARY

One or more exemplary embodiments provide a broadcast signal receiver,and a method for providing broadcast signal relation information, inwhich relation information corresponding to a broadcast signal can bedisplayed in real time.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided abroadcast signal receiver and a method for providing broadcast signalrelation information, in which an application program for providing thebroadcast signal relation information is simplified.

According to aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided abroadcast signal receiver and a method for providing broadcast signalrelation information, in which the broadcast signal relation informationcan be provided even though a broadcasting program is not identifiablefrom a broadcast signal.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided acondition information providing server that provides conditioninformation for providing relation information.

According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided aserver that provides identification information so that a broadcastingprogram can be identified using a fingerprint.

The foregoing and/or other aspects may be achieved by providing abroadcast signal receiver capable of accessing a predetermined serverthrough a network, the broadcast signal receiver including: a firstreceiver which receives a broadcast signal containing a broadcastingprogram; a second receiver which receives condition information thatcomprises source information of relation information, the sourceinformation of relation information identifying a source of the relationinformation, and an execution condition for providing the relationinformation corresponding to the broadcasting program; and a relationinformation provider which detects an occurrence of the executioncondition, requests the relation information from the source of therelation information by using the source information of the relationinformation in response to detecting the occurrence of the condition,receives the relation information from the source of the relationinformation, and displays the received relation information.

The source of the relation information may be one among a plurality ofrelation information providing servers by using the source informationof the relation information.

The source information of relation information may include a serveraddress of the source of the relation information, and the relationinformation provider may receive the relation information from thesource of the relation information corresponding to the server addressthrough the second receiver.

The second receiver may receive the execution condition from a conditioninformation providing server, and the execution condition may beprovided from the relation information providing server to the conditioninformation providing server.

The condition information may further include broadcasting programidentification information that identifies the broadcasting program, andthe broadcast signal receiver may further include a controller thatextracts the execution condition corresponding to the broadcastingprogram using the broadcasting program identification information.

The controller may extract program identification (ID) or channel IDfrom the received broadcast signal, and compare the extracted program IDor channel ID with the broadcasting program identification informationto extract the source information of the relation informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program.

The broadcast signal receiver may further include a controller thatgenerates a fingerprint of a broadcasting program being currentlydisplayed, transmits the generated fingerprint to a server thatpreviously receives a broadcast signal containing the broadcastingprogram and stores a fingerprint corresponding to the broadcast signal,and receives program ID or channel ID corresponding to the fingerprinttransmitted from the server.

The condition information may further include broadcasting programidentification information, and the controller may compare the receivedprogram ID or channel ID with the broadcasting program identificationinformation, and extract the source information of the relationinformation corresponding to the broadcasting program based on a resultof the comparing.

The relation information provider may include at least two applicationprograms, the condition information may include application ID forselecting one of the at least two application programs, and the relationinformation may be provided by the application program selected based onthe application ID.

The relation information provider may stop providing the relationinformation if a channel of a broadcast signal being currently receivedis changed.

Another aspect may be achieved by providing a method of providingrelation information related to a broadcast signal, the methodincluding: receiving a broadcast signal containing a broadcastingprogram; receiving condition information that comprises sourceinformation of relation information, the source information of relationinformation identifying a source of the relation information, and anexecution condition for providing the relation information correspondingto the broadcasting program; detecting an occurrence of the executioncondition, requesting the relation information from the source of therelation information by using the source information of the relationinformation, and receiving the relation information from the source ofthe relation information; and displaying the received relationinformation.

The condition information may further include broadcasting programidentification information that identifies the broadcasting program, andthe method may further include extracting the execution conditioncorresponding to the broadcasting program using the broadcasting programidentification information.

The method may further include extracting program identification (ID) orchannel ID from the received broadcast signal; and comparing theextracted program ID or channel ID with the broadcasting programidentification information to extract the source information of therelation information corresponding to the broadcasting program.

The method may further include generating a fingerprint of abroadcasting program being currently displayed; transmitting thegenerated fingerprint to a server that previously receives a broadcastsignal containing the broadcasting program and stores a fingerprintcorresponding to the broadcast signal; and receiving program ID orchannel ID corresponding to the fingerprint transmitted from the server.

The condition information may further include broadcasting programidentification information, and the method may further include comparingthe received program ID or channel ID with the broadcasting programidentification information, and extracting the source information of therelation information corresponding to the broadcasting program based ona result of the comparing.

Still another aspect may be achieved by providing a broadcast signalreceiver capable of accessing a predetermined server through a network,the broadcast signal receiver including: a first receiver which receivesa broadcast signal containing a broadcasting program; a second receiverwhich receives condition information that comprises source informationof relation information, the source information of relation informationidentifying a source of the relation information, and an executioncondition for providing the relation information corresponding to thebroadcasting program; a relation information provider which receives therelation information by using the source information of the relationinformation; and a controller which transmits broadcasting programidentification information corresponding to the broadcasting program toan external condition information providing server, receives thecondition information from the condition information providing server,and provides the condition information to the relation informationprovider.

Still another aspect may be achieved by providing a method of providingrelation information related to a broadcast signal, the methodincluding: receiving a broadcast signal containing a broadcastingprogram; transmitting broadcasting program identification informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program to an external conditioninformation providing server; receiving condition information thatcomprises source information of relation information, the sourceinformation of relation information identifying a source of the relationinformation, and an execution condition for providing the relationinformation corresponding to the broadcasting program from the conditioninformation providing server; receiving the relation information byusing the source information of the relation information; and displayingthe received relation information.

Still another aspect may be achieved by providing a conditioninformation providing server including: a storage unit which storescondition information corresponding to a broadcasting program registeredby a content provider; and a controller which provides the conditioninformation to a broadcast signal receiver in response to receiving arequest for the condition information from the broadcast signalreceiver.

The controller may receive a broadcast signal containing thebroadcasting program, generate a fingerprint corresponding to thebroadcast signal, and send the broadcast signal receiver identificationinformation about a broadcasting program corresponding to a fingerprintmatching with the fingerprint transmitted from the broadcast signalreceiver.

Still another aspect may be achieved by providing a server including: afingerprint generator which receives a broadcast signal containing abroadcasting program and generates a fingerprint corresponding to thebroadcast signal; and a controller which sends the broadcast signalreceiver identification information about a broadcasting programcorresponding to a fingerprint matching with the fingerprint transmittedfrom the broadcast signal receiver.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects will become apparent from the followingdescription of the exemplary embodiments, taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view showing condition information received in the broadcastsignal receiver of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view showing relation information displayed in the broadcastsignal receiver of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 8 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 10 is a control block diagram showing a system including abroadcast signal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 11 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 10.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Below, exemplary embodiments will be described in detail with referenceto accompanying drawings so as to be easily realized by a person havingordinary knowledge in the art. The exemplary embodiments may be embodiedin various forms without being limited to the exemplary embodiments setforth herein. Descriptions of well-known parts are omitted for clarity,and like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the broadcast signal receiver 100 communicates witha plurality of relation information providing servers 200 and acondition information providing server 300. The broadcast signalreceiver 100 includes a first receiver 10 and a second receiver 40. Therelation information providing server 200 and the condition informationproviding server 300 provide relation information and conditioninformation to the broadcast signal receiver 100 while communicatingwith the second receiver 40. The relation information providing server200 provides the relation information corresponding to a broadcastingprogram contained in a broadcast signal, and the condition informationproviding server 300 provides the condition information about acondition for providing the relation information to the broadcast signalreceiver 100.

The relation information may include an advertisement related to abroadcasting program, a user interface (UI) for questions related to thebroadcasting program, broadcasting program guide information,performance information, various regional information such as amenitiesinformation, traffic information, famous restaurant information, etc.,if a broadcasting program corresponds to certain regional broadcast,information about a synopsis or actor/actress if a movie is broadcasted,and information about how to use a certain product, etc. Thus, therelation information providing server 200 may include a server such as abroadcasting station, an advertiser, a local government, a manufacturer,a film company, etc. The relation information providing server 200 mayfurther include an independent server of a company providing therelation information, and may be an intermediate server that receivesthe relation information from the companies and provides the relationinformation to the broadcast signal receiver 100. In this exemplaryembodiment, the plurality of relation information providing servers 200are provided, but not limited thereto. Alternatively, there may beprovided a single relation information providing server.

The condition information providing server 300 receives conditioninformation from the relation information providing server 200 andsupplies the condition information to the broadcast signal receiver 100.The condition information providing server 300 includes a storage unit310 that stores condition information corresponding to a broadcastingprogram registered by a content provider, such as the relationinformation providing server 200, and a controller 320 that provides thecondition information registered as requested by the broadcast signalreceiver 100 to the broadcast signal receiver 100. The conditioninformation may be periodically supplied to the broadcast signalreceiver 100, and may be supplied in response to a certain event. Forexample, the broadcast signal receiver 100 may access the conditioninformation providing server 300 at intervals corresponding to an updatecycle, or may access the condition information providing server 300whenever a channel of a broadcast signal is changed, thereby receivingthe condition information. The condition information may be downloadedin the broadcast signal receiver 100 by the broadcast signal receiver100, and may be distributed to the broadcast signal receiver 100 by thecondition information providing server 300.

The broadcast signal receiver 100 includes the first receiver 10, asignal processor 20, a display unit 30, the second receiver 40, and arelation information provider 50. The broadcast signal receiver 100 mayinclude a computer, a mobile device, and a device such as a television(TV) connectable to a wired/wireless network, which can receive andreproduce a broadcast signal. The mobile device may include a portabledevice such as a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a portable multi-media player (PMP), and a navigationdevice. The TV may be involved in the mobile device, and may be a devicesuch as an Internet protocol (IP) TV or a digital multimediabroadcasting terminal. The broadcast signal receiver 100 may bementioned as a user device. The broadcast signal receiver 100 mayfurther include a storage unit, a button, an input pad or a user inputunit, such as a remote controller, even though they are not shownherein.

The first receiver 10 receives a broadcast signal through a broadcastingservice such as terrestrial broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, cablebroadcasting, Internet broadcasting, and digital multimediabroadcasting. The broadcast signal may contain contents, such as anaudio signal and a video signal, various data for explaining thecontents, and a supplementary signal. Such contents may contain variousbroadcasting programs, various advertisements, etc., provided by thebroadcasting station or the content provider. The first receiver 10 mayinclude at least one of a tuner having a channel tuning function, anetwork interface, a set-top box connector, a cable connector, etc., toreceive the broadcast signal as above.

The signal processor 20 processes a received broadcast signal to bedisplayed on the display unit 30. The signal processor 20 may include avideo processor (not shown) and an audio processor (not shown), andperform demultiplexing, decoding, scaling, image quality adjustment,image quality enhancement, etc.

The display unit 30 displays the broadcast signal processed by thesignal processor 20 and the relation information provided by therelation information provider 50 to be described later. The display unit30 may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) panel having liquidcrystal, an organic light emitting diode (OLED) panel having an organiclight emitting diode, or a plasma display panel (PDP), a flexibledisplay, a three-dimensional (3D) display, etc., and include a paneldriver for driving the above panel.

The second receiver 40 may be an interface for receiving variousinformation and contents through a web network such as Internet. In thisexemplary embodiment, the second receiver 40 receives the relationinformation and the condition information. The second receiver 40 inthis exemplary embodiment is illustrated as one block for explaining thefunction of the configuration for receiving signals except the broadcastsignal received by the first receiver 10. Thus, there may be provided aplurality of second receivers 40 in accordance with the kinds ofreceived information and the characteristics of the server.

The condition information may be information about a condition forproviding the relation information corresponding to the broadcastingprogram. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the condition information includesbroadcasting station identification (ID), execution condition,application ID, and source information of the relation information,which informs a source of supplying the relation information. Theexecution condition may include broadcasting program ID, broadcastingtime of the broadcasting program, characteristic information about thebroadcasting program, etc. The broadcasting station ID, the broadcastingprogram ID, the broadcasting time of the broadcasting program, or thecharacteristic information about the broadcasting program may bebroadcasting program ID information for identifying the broadcastingprogram. The application ID may be information for specifying oneapplication program if there is a plurality of application programs forproviding the relation information. The source information of therelation information may include a server address of the relationinformation providing server 200, i.e., universal resource locator (URL)information.

The relation information provider 50 receives the condition informationand the relation information through the second receiver 40, andprocesses the received relation information to be displayed on thedisplay unit 30. As described above, the condition information indicatesa condition for providing the relation information. The relationinformation provider 50 determines whether there is the conditioninformation corresponding to the broadcasting program being currentlybroadcasted, accesses the corresponding relation information providingserver 200 through the source information of the relation information,i.e., through the server address if there is the condition information,and downloads the relation information from the accessed relationinformation providing server 200 into the broadcast signal receiver 100.

The relation information received into the broadcast signal receiver 100is displayed on the display unit 30 as shown in FIG. 3. The relationinformation may be displayed at an edge portion of the display unit 30in order not to interfere with an image of the broadcasting program. Asshown in FIG. 3, two or more relation information corresponding to thebroadcasting program may be displayed. Alternatively, one relationinformation may be displayed. The relation information may havetransparency and be overlapped on the image of the broadcasting program.Also, the relation information may not be displayed on the display unit30 in accordance with a user's selection. In this case, the relationinformation provider 50 may provide a user with a user interface (UI)for asking the user whether to display the relation information if therelation information is received. If a user instructs to display therelation information, the relation information may be displayed on arelation information window.

The relation information provider 50 may be achieved by an applicationprogram, such as a widget that accesses the relation informationproviding server 200 and downloads and displays the relationinformation. Also, the relation information provider 50 may include agraphic user interface (GUI) generator which receives data or the likeand generates it as a GUI such as on screen display (OSD). There may beprovided a plurality of widgets. The relation information provider 50may be installed in the broadcast signal receiver 100 when the broadcastsignal receiver 100 is manufactured, or may be downloaded from therelation information providing server 200 providing the relationinformation.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the broadcast signal receiver 100receives the server address of the server providing the relationinformation as the condition information for receiving the relationinformation, and accesses the server address in real time and receivesthe relation information corresponding to the broadcasting program ifthe condition information corresponds to the broadcasting program beingcurrently received. In this case, there is no need of an individualapplication program for providing the relation information correspondingto an individual broadcasting program, so that a storage space wheredata occupies can be reduced and the application program can be simplyadministrated.

In the above exemplary embodiment, the relation information may bereceived in real time from the exterior, but not limited thereto.Alternatively, the relation information may be internally stored in thebroadcast signal receiver 100. If the relation information is stored,the broadcast signal receiver may receive and store the relationinformation on a certain cycle or in response to a special event.

FIG. 4 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 1.Referring to FIG. 4, the method of providing the relation informationaccording to an exemplary embodiment is as follows.

First, at operation S10, the broadcast signal receiver 100 receives abroadcast signal containing a broadcasting program.

At operation S20, the source information of the relation information,which informs a source of supplying the relation information, isreceived as a condition for providing the relation informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program.

The order of receiving the broadcast signal and the source informationof the relation information may be reversed. Alternatively, thebroadcast signal and the source information of the relation informationmay be received at the same time.

At operation S30, the relation information provider 50 receives therelation information from the relation information providing server 200in accordance with the source information of the relation information ifthe currently displayed broadcasting program is matched with thecondition information.

At operation S40, the relation information provider 50 processes thereceived relation information and displays the relation informationbased on the condition information.

If a channel of the broadcast signal being currently received ischanged, the relation information provider 50 may stop providing therelation information being displayed.

FIG. 5 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 5, the broadcast signal receiver 100 in this exemplaryembodiment may further include a controller 60 for extracting acondition for displaying the relation information corresponding to thebroadcasting program being currently displayed, on the basis of thebroadcasting program identification information contained in thecondition information. Also, the relation information provider 50includes an application program 51 and an application engine 52 fordriving the application program 51. The application program 51 isinstalled and executed in the broadcast signal receiver 100, and may bean application program installed for playing various contents. Theapplication program 51 may be displayed as a GUI on the display unit 30in the form of a thumbnail or an icon.

The controller 60 extracts a program ID or a channel ID from thereceived broadcast signal, and compares the extracted program ID orchannel ID with the broadcasting program identification informationcontained in the condition information, thereby determining the sourceinformation of the relation information corresponding to thebroadcasting program being currently displayed.

The controller 60 may extract the program ID or the channel IDcorresponding to the broadcasting program being currently received, frommeta information, supplementary information or electronic program guide(EPG) information. The condition information may include informationabout a plurality of broadcasting programs, and the controller 60extracts the condition information corresponding to the broadcastingprogram being currently received, among a plurality of conditioninformation and extracts the source information of the relationinformation corresponding to the extracted program ID or channel IDamong the condition information.

The controller 60 provides the extracted source information of therelation information to the application engine 52 of the relationinformation provider 50. The application engine 52 drives theapplication program 51 to access the server address and receive therelation information.

FIG. 6 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 5.

At operation S11, the controller 60 receives a broadcast signal throughthe first receiver 10, and receives the condition information containingthe server address of the relation information providing server 200 andthe broadcasting program identification information through the secondreceiver 40.

At operation S50, the controller 60 extracts the program ID or thechannel ID from the broadcast signal.

At operation S60, the controller 60 extracting the program ID or thechannel ID in real time compares the program ID or the channel ID withthe broadcasting program identification information contained in thecondition information, and extracts the source information of therelation information corresponding to the broadcasting program beingcurrently received and displayed.

The controller 60 provides the extracted server information of therelation information providing server 200 to the relation informationprovider 50.

The application engine 52 drives the application program 51 to accessthe relation information providing server 200 and download thecorresponding relation information. At operation S70, the relationinformation received in the broadcast signal receiver 100 is processedby the application program 51 and displayed on the display unit 30.

FIG. 7 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.

The controller 60 in this exemplary embodiment communicates with anexternal server 400, and acquires program ID or channel ID correspondingto a broadcast signal being currently received from the external server400.

The server 400 includes a fingerprint generator 410 for receiving abroadcast signal containing a broadcasting program and generating afingerprint corresponding to the broadcast signal, and a controller 420sending the broadcast signal receiver 100 identification informationabout the broadcasting program corresponding to a fingerprint matchingwith the fingerprint received from the broadcast signal receiver 100.The server 400 receives a broadcast signal earlier by predetermined timethan the broadcast signal received in the broadcast signal receiver 100,and generates the fingerprint of the broadcast signal. The fingerprintmeans data or operation values for identifying a video frame, which canbe generated by well-known digital signal processing. For example, thefingerprint generator 410 may use a feature point extracting algorithm,such as scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), speed up robustfeature (SURF), and maximum stale extremal regions (MSER), to generate adigital fingerprint of a video frame.

If the broadcast signal receiver 100 receives a broadcast signal throughthe set-top box, audio and video signals constituting the broadcastsignal are input to the broadcast signal receiver 100 and reproduced,but other information, such as EPG information or broadcast metainformation, may not be received in the broadcast signal receiver 100.If the standards of data transmission between the set-top box and thebroadcast signal receiver 100 are not clearly set up and the receptionof other information is not secured, a problem arises in that thebroadcast signal receiver 100 may not use other information and cannotidentify the broadcasting program being currently received.

In this case, the controller 60 may receive identification informationabout the broadcast signal being currently received through the server400, i.e., may receive the program ID or the channel ID. The controller60 generates a fingerprint of a broadcasting program being currentlydisplayed, by the foregoing method, and transmits the generatedfingerprint to the server 400 that previously receives the broadcastsignal and stores the fingerprint corresponding to the broadcast signal.The server 400 provides the program ID or the channel ID correspondingto the received fingerprint to the controller 60.

The controller 60 compares the program ID or the channel ID providedfrom the server 400 with the broadcasting program identificationinformation contained in the condition information, and extracts thesource information of the relation information corresponding to thebroadcasting program being currently displayed. Thus, even the broadcastsignal receiver 100, which cannot extract the broadcasting program fromthe broadcast signal, can display the relation information matching withthe broadcasting program in real time.

FIG. 8 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 8, at operation S13, the controller 60 receives thebroadcast signal and the condition information containing the serveraddress of the relation information providing server 200 and thebroadcasting program identification information.

At operation S80, the controller 60 generates a fingerprint of abroadcasting program being currently displayed, and transmits thegenerated fingerprint to the server 400 that previously receives thebroadcast signal containing the broadcasting program and stores thefingerprint corresponding to the broadcast signal.

Then, at operation S90, the broadcast signal receiver 100 receives theprogram ID or channel ID corresponding to the transmitted fingerprintfrom the server 400.

Then, at operation S60, as shown in FIG. 6, the controller 60 comparesthe program ID or the channel ID with the broadcasting programidentification information contained in the condition information, andextracts the source information of the relation informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program being currently received anddisplayed.

At operation S70, the controller 60 receives the relation informationcorresponding to the extracted broadcasting program from the relationinformation providing server 200 and displays the relation informationon the display unit 30.

According to an exemplary embodiment, the broadcast signal receiver 100may acquire the broadcast signal identification information, such as theprogram ID or the channel ID, from the condition information providingserver 300. In this case, the condition information providing server 300may further include a fingerprint generator that previously receives thebroadcast signal and generate the fingerprint. That is, a single servermay provide both the condition information and the broadcast signalidentification information.

FIG. 9 is a control block diagram showing a system including a broadcastsignal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 9, the relation information provider 50 in thisexemplary embodiment includes a plurality of application programs 51.The application engine 52 controls one of the plurality of applicationprograms 51 to receive and provide the relation information. If thebroadcast signal receiver 100 includes the plurality of applicationprograms 51, the condition information received in the broadcast signalreceiver 100 may include an application ID for selecting one of at leasttwo application programs. As above, if the broadcast signal receiver 100includes one application program, the application ID may be set up by adefault or may not be set up. However, if there is a plurality ofapplication programs, the broadcast signal receiver 100 selects whichapplication program to be used for providing the relation information,and the application engine 52 controls the application program 51selected in accordance with the application ID to provide the relationinformation. In other words, the application engine 52 informs theapplication program 51, selected in accordance with the application ID,of the server address of the relation information providing server 200.

FIG. 10 is a control block diagram showing a system including abroadcast signal receiver according to an exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 10, the controller 60 sends the condition informationproviding server 300 the broadcasting program identification informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program being currently received. Thatis, the broadcast signal receiver 100 in this exemplary embodiment sendsthe condition information providing server 300 the broadcasting programidentification information, such as the program or channel ID currentlyreceived for acquiring the condition information, and thus receives thecondition information corresponding to the broadcasting programidentification information from the condition information providingserver 300.

As described above, the relation information providing server 200registers the condition information to the condition informationproviding server 300. Such condition information contains a variety ofinformation about which broadcasting program to provide the relationinformation. If receiving the broadcasting program identificationinformation from the broadcast signal receiver 100, the conditioninformation providing server 300 selects only the condition informationmatching with the broadcasting program identification information andprovides the selected condition information to the broadcast signalreceiver 100. In this case, the condition information may contain theapplication ID for selecting the application program and the sourceinformation of the relation information providing server 200 except thebroadcasting program identification information such as the broadcastingstation ID and the program ID.

The broadcast signal receiver 100 receiving the condition informationreceives the relation information from the relation informationproviding server 200 and displays the relation information on thedisplay unit 30 as described above.

The controller 60 may extract the program or channel ID from thebroadcast signal as shown in FIG. 5, and acquire the program or channelID through the fingerprint and the server 400 storing the fingerprint.

FIG. 11 is a control flowchart for explaining a method of providingrelation information by the broadcast signal receiver of FIG. 10.

Referring to FIG. 11, the method of providing the relation informationin the broadcast signal receiver is as follows.

First, at operation S10, a broadcast signal containing a broadcastingprogram is received.

At operation S100, the broadcasting program identification informationcorresponding to the broadcasting program being currently received istransmitted to the condition information providing server 300. Thecontroller 60 may extract the program or channel ID from the broadcastsignal, or may acquire the program or channel ID through the server 400.

At operation S110, the controller 60 receives the condition informationcontaining the source information of the relation information, whichinforms a source of the relation information providing server 200supplying the relation information matching with the broadcastingprogram, from the condition information providing server 300.

At operation S70, the controller 60 controls the second receiver 40 andthe relation information provider 50 to receive the relation informationthrough the source information of the relation information, and therelation information provider 50 processes the received relationinformation to be displayed on the display unit 30.

The exemplary embodiments illustrated in the FIGS. may be embodied by anapparatus that includes a bus coupled to every unit of the apparatus, atleast one processor (e.g., central processing unit, microprocessor,etc.) that is connected to the bus for controlling the operations of theapparatus to implement the above-described functions and executingcommands, and a memory connected to the bus to store the commands,received messages, and generated messages.

As will also be understood by the skilled artisan, the exemplaryembodiments may be implemented by any combination of software and/orhardware components, such as a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) orApplication Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), which performs certaintasks. A unit or module may advantageously be configured to reside onthe addressable storage medium and configured to execute on one or moreprocessors or microprocessors. Thus, a unit or module may include, byway of example, components, such as software components, object-orientedsoftware components, class components and task components, processes,functions, attributes, procedures, subroutines, segments of programcode, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuitry, data, databases, datastructures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functionality providedfor in the components and units may be combined into fewer componentsand units or modules or further separated into additional components andunits or modules.

Although a few exemplary embodiments have been shown and described, itwill be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be madein these exemplary embodiments without departing from the principles andspirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the appendedclaims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A broadcast signal receiver comprising: a signalreceiver configured to receive an image signal; a signal processorconfigured to process the received image signal to display an image; acommunicator configured to communicate with servers; and a controllerconfigured to: receive from a first server through the communicatorfirst information describing a condition for accessing a second serverproviding a content and second information comprising an address on thesecond server; determine whether the condition described in the firstinformation is satisfied, in response to the condition being satisfied,access the second server based on the address comprised in the secondinformation, receive the content from the second server, and display thereceived content.
 2. The broadcast signal receiver according to theclaim 1, wherein the image signal is of a broadcast program contained ina broadcast signal.
 3. The broadcast signal receiver according to theclaim 1, wherein the content relates to the image being displayed. 4.The broadcast signal receiver according to the claim 1, wherein thecontroller is configured to display the received content over thedisplayed image.
 5. The broadcast signal receiver according to the claim1, wherein the first information comprises identification information ofat least one of a broadcast program and a broadcast channel, and if theidentification information corresponds to the image being displayed, thecontroller is configured to determine that the condition is satisfied.6. The broadcast signal receiver according to the claim 5, wherein thecontroller is further configured to transmit information of thedisplayed image to a third server, receive identification information ofthe displayed image from the third server, and compares the receivedidentification information of the displayed image and the identificationinformation comprised in the first information.
 7. The broadcast signalreceiver according to the claim 1, wherein the controller is furtherconfigured to receive from the first server third information on anapplication program corresponding to the content and display thereceived content by executing the application program.
 8. The broadcastsignal receiver according to the claim 1, wherein the controller isconfigured to receive the first information from the first serverperiodically.
 9. The broadcast signal receiver according to the claim 2,wherein the controller is configured to receive the first informationfrom the first server in response to a broadcast channel of thebroadcast signal changing.
 10. A method of controlling a broadcastsignal receiver, the method comprising: receiving an image signal;processing the received image signal to display an image; receiving froma first server first information describing a condition for accessing asecond server providing a content and second information comprising anaddress on the second server; determining whether the conditiondescribed in the first information is satisfied; in response to thecondition being satisfied, accessing the second server based on theaddress comprised in the second information; receiving the content fromthe second server; and displaying the received content.
 11. The methodaccording to the claim 10, wherein the image signal is of a broadcastprogram contained in a broadcast signal.
 12. The method according to theclaim 10, wherein the content relates to the image being displayed. 13.The method according to the claim 10, wherein the displaying comprisesdisplaying the received content over the displayed image.
 14. The methodaccording to the claim 10, wherein the first information comprisesidentification information of at least one of a broadcast program and abroadcast channel, and the determining comprises determining that thecondition is satisfied if the identification information corresponds tothe image being displayed.
 15. The method according to the claim 14,wherein the determining comprises: transmitting information of thedisplayed image to a third server; receiving identification informationof the displayed image from the third server, and comparing the receivedidentification information of the displayed image and the identificationinformation comprised in the first information.
 16. The method accordingto the claim 10, further comprising receiving from the first serverthird information on an application program corresponding to thecontent, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the receivedcontent by executing the application program.
 17. The method accordingto the claim 10, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the firstinformation from the first server periodically.
 18. The method accordingto the claim 11, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the firstinformation from the first server in response to a broadcast channel ofthe broadcast signal changing.
 19. A non-transitory computer-readablemedium storing at least one computer program executable by a broadcastsignal receiver to perform operations, the operations comprising:receiving an image signal; processing the received image signal todisplay an image; receiving from a first server first informationdescribing a condition for accessing a second server providing a contentand second information comprising an address on the second server;determining whether the condition described in the first information issatisfied; in response to the condition being satisfied, accessing thesecond server based on the address comprised in the second information;receiving the content from the second server; and displaying thereceived content.